Winter 2015 Episode Rankings – Week 9

Back from Minamicon (which was fantastic), and I’ve now caught up with the nine episodes I missed from last week… though I have another eight from the start of Week 10 to go yet. Still, I’m aiming to have the next post up on Sunday as usual~

No Yuri Kuma Arashi this week, which did make catching up that little bit easier. 😛

Supposing the Count’s army of clones won, would they all stick around afterwards? 😕

Moving up:

Placing in my Top 5 for the first time since Week 1 is Aldnoah Zero S2! This episode had a lot of the things I really liked about the first series going for it, longer terrestrial battles against multiple Martian mecha, fantastic animation and music; sure, Inaho still came up with the winning strategies while the rest just followed his orders, nothing new there, but it was entertaining to watch. Meanwhile, both princesses meet up and Asseylum learns of Slaine’s plans to conquer Earth. She demands he call a cease fire, but seeing as he’s already decided to overthrow the Vers Empire, he refuses to obey her orders and has them both locked up. The end of the series approaches, and I can’t see it being a happy one… the real question is, will they actually kill anyone off this time!?

Things didn’t quite go according to plan for our princess in Akatsuki no Yona, either. She successfully infiltrated the ship being used by Yan Kumiji for human trafficking, but when the man himself shows up to ‘inspect his wares’, he takes an interest in her, and almost figures out her true identity. Yun tries to seduce him as a distraction, but ends up getting kicked to the other end of the cargo hold – clearly the lord has no taste in addition to being an evil douchebag. Fortunately, Yona’s death-gaze puts him off, as surely no pampered princess could have such a look in her eye? Yona and Yun later enlist the help of another captive, Yuri (all the Y’s, this could get confusing), and are just about able to make it onto the deck and launch the firework to signal Shin-Ah and their allies. Yan Kumiji won’t know what hit him in an episode or two. 😀

Death-gaze~

Moving down:

In the previous episode of Junketsu no Maria, the titular witch decided that she couldn’t just sit back and watch a battle going on, so intervened just as the French were about to deal the final blow via an ambush. The English forces agreed to leave, but it only took one of them to turn around and fire a bow before the battle resumed, and this time the tide turned in their favour. Episode 8 was slower, and focused on the aftermath: Maria, still injured by Ezekiel’s strike, is being blamed by the general population for the French defeat, and by Garfa who lost an arm in the battle. Brother Bernard is convincing her former patrons that her healing salves are in fact poisonous, and of course the Archangel Michael is constantly monitoring her as well. Sucks to be her right now! I feel this series is lacking a bit in character development, but the setting remains refreshing and unique.

There’s nothing much refreshing about Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road at the moment, just a drawn-out race to the finish between the five remaining front runners. The order has changed several times, but currently it’s Midosuji and Imaizumi who are ahead in the final downhill slope, which meant plenty of flashbacks to their previous clashes, as well as several utterances of the word ‘gross’ from Midosuji (I should have kept count 😛 ). Onoda is some distance behind, along with Manami and Fukutomi, the latter of whom has been very quiet for a number of episodes. Hopefully my excitement will return a bit once the finish line is in sight, though I imagine the pacing will be even slower in the coming episodes.

Hold on one second while I consult my Chuunibyou – Japanese dictionary…

General comments:

More of the same in The IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls – this episode revolved around mysterious goth-loli Kanzaki Ranko, who was finally due to debut as a solo artist. Our unnamed Producer tried to find a song and theme to match her image, but was off the mark by assuming that all gothic lolita-dressing people like horror. Turns out Ranko is terrified of the genre, and sees her image as more of a fallen angel/light-turned-dark character, with far less blood and death involved. But of course, she struggles to communicate this due to her inability to speak plain Japanese, and the socially inept Producer has no idea what the problem is. The other girls help him out a bit, and eventually he gets it, and Ranko gets a more fitting debut single. Not the most thrilling ep, but at least we’ll likely be moving on to a different character/group of characters next week.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu was split into two separate halves, the first focusing on a professional sniper hired to take out Koro-sensei while the class were out sightseeing in Kyoto. This goes no better than the class’ attempts, and the mission is called off… which is when Koro-sensei visits him, thanking him for contributing towards his pupil’s education. In the second half, the class were separated into two large bedrooms at an inn, and in both the conversation turns towards the opposite sex. Koro-sensei ends up eavesdropping on both sides, and they unite in a huge assassination free for all. At least we got to learn a bit more about some of the classmates. Some plot revelations were also mixed in, when we learned that Koro-sensei might once have been human, and after the ending theme it was announced that two special assassins will be joining the class.

Slightly late for the Minamicon ‘Anime WTF?’ clip show about bathing, but I feel Koro-sensei would have fit right in. 😛